Second Grade Week 9/10 -- Constructing Melody

The last two weeks of second grade music we have been focusing in melody as it relates to rhythm and constructing improvisations and compositions based on the pentatonic. All this is a prelude to a more complete study of melody and note reading in 3rd grade. As this recording from Ms. Nunez's class indicates the kids are well on their way to a real understanding of all these musical concepts.

I had a great time with second grade this year. Have a great break second graders and enjoy your drums!

Concert In The Park -- "The Joker"

What a wonderful time we had at Concert in the Park last night! The kids from both ensembles performed extremely well as you can see from this video. We were joined on the bill by the KDLP drummers, Kids KOR Hip Hop and Tap groups and an aerobics demo by Akiko Morrison. All this on the heels of Hoop-a-thon. It was some day.

Remember ensemble cats -- there will be no rehearsal next week or the following which is Spring Break. Orff rehearsals will resume on Tuesday April 6 and Recorder on Friday April 9.

Orff Rehearsal - "Twinkling Melody"

Here is the other piece "Twinkling Melody." This one was a bit less polished, but the ideas are all there. Give it a listen and pay particular attention to how the piece unfolds. That is how we are doing it for the concert.

Orff Rehearsal - "Chinese Lights"

Orff Ensemble -- here is the recording we made of the first run through of "Chinese Lights". Please give it a listen to familiarize yourself with the arrangement.

"The Joker" - Sopranino Solo Part 2

Dora -- here's the other half of your solo. Remember, it's okay if it has an improvised feeling.

See you on Tuesday!

"The Joker" - Coda with xylophone

Ensemble cats -- here's the final piece of "The Joker". It's a very simple pitch pattern -- A-G-F-D-C. The trick is how to fit it in with what the xylophones are doing. Check it out and try to work on it this week.

Second Grade Week 8 -- Intro to Pitched Percussion

Today we broke some of the Orff Barred Instruments for the second graders so they could try our some of their drumming skills on these wonderful pitched percussion instruments. The kids were very enthusiastic, confirming once again the wisdom of these purchase for the school by Friends of Third a few years ago -- thank you parents.

Rhythm is often taught before pitch in music, as it seems to be a concept that is easier for kids to comprehend. However, as the kids learned today, melody is nothing more than the pitch sequence attached the rhythm. Next week we will continue discussing melody and introduce the concept of pitch names.

I hope you enjoy this brief video as much as Ms. Pak's class seemed to making it.

Fourth Grade Week 8 -- Completing Our Songs

This week we used the music class to review the work the students have done in collaboration with one another on their 16 bar songs. I have to say, this assignment seems to have produced more resistance than in previous years. If we do it again next year I will certainly try to make more resources available on the blog and in the classrooms. However a number of kids were able to complete the assignment with excellent results as shown here in this sweet song from Mr. Basssett's class.

I will be transcribing more of these songs onto Sibelius music scoring software over the weekend so that we can sing a few of them in class. They will also be gathered in a book (as the 5th grade compositions were). This kids have until next week to complete their work.